Search

Last night was freezing. I woke up at 3am and had to pee. I held it until I woke up because it was so cold I was afraid to leave my bed. The wake up alarm I chose this morning was ‘blah blah blah’ by my girl Ke$ha. There were mixed reviews on this choice.

Today was a workout day. TEMPO. I’m not going to give away our workouts or training times but lets just say the wolverines are looking pretty damn good right about now. MUCH BETTER than last year. Did almost 3 miles more than I tempoed at this time a year ago.

After lunch and some rest, we had a mandatory team bonding session through the viewing of “Band of Brothers”. We watched the first two episodes. Intense stuff. Ross from friends is in the first one and he’s a dick.

Killed some more time this afternoon reading and swimming in lake Michigan before dinner. Chicken nuggets and mashed potaters, OMNOMNOM.

Currently typing this post while watching the third episode of B.O.B. It’s good team bonding. Watching the men on the show form strong friendships with each other through their struggle is pretty symbolic to our time here at camp with the new freshmen as we prepare to begin the hell that is xc season. Thankfully we’re not being shot at by nazi’s.

Gibbys wife runs the marathon at Worlds in about 30min. Gibby looks nervous as hell right now. Good luck Kathy!

Dear Readers: I’ll be at camp for the next 8 days in Glen Arbor, Michigan. Hopefully I’ll be providing daily updates on this blog. I’m doing this via a mobile app so don’t expect anything fancy. It’s actually a sweet app btw, thanks wordpress!

After finally managing to fit all of the gear into the back of the vans we finally began our trip to Glen Arbor to put our summer training to the test on the trails of northern Michigan. Although a fairly long drive, it wasn’t bad as we were surrounded by our teammates to have conversations with. We finally arrived at camp only 30min before dinner and had just enough time to pick cabins and unload our duffle bags before digging into the tasty lasagna the cafeteria had prepared for us. It was nice being able to eat and relax when we got here instead of doing a workout straightaway like last year.

Day 2:
We awoke in our cabin at 7:45am to several different alarms going off at the same time. I think mine was the best as Matt and Kim’s ‘daylight’ was stuck in the head of several of my cabin mates hummed the tune throughout breakfast. 6 of us decided to get our run out of the way early at 10am and we did 12 miles on the nice trails at the park only a 15min run down dirt roads from our cabins. With the first run at camp being a success we were left with an afternoon to ourselves which many spent reading the books they purchased on our short stop in town at 1. In a few hours the remainder of the campers will run and then we will all do a group core and strengthening session before spending more time team bonding afterwards. Perhaps a game of dodgeball? We’ll see, Gibby is much too easy of a target, maybe we’ll go easy on him.

Quotes from the first 2 days:

Senior Derek Henning- “I’m looking forward to living in blissful ignorance of the outside world while in northern Michigan”

Continuing yesterday’s list (which happened to make the front page of Flotrack today 🙂 ) here is my 2nd installment on advice for incoming freshmen for the 2011 Cross Country Season.

Nice stride babe

TIP NUMBER FOUR: PREVENT INJURIES

Prevention: If you are going to be seriously dedicated to this sport, you will do all that you can to prevent injuries. Here’s what you need to do:Ice baths– I take 5 a weekRolling Out– Every day, several times a daySee Your Trainer– They can give you ice and stem, massage you, and give you strengthening/rehab exercises (shout out to Christie! Thanks for all your help!)SLEEP– Don’t be an idiot. Go to bed, get 9-10 hours of sleep. This is one of the biggest problems with freshmen. You want to go hang out with your new friends, stay on facebook until 3am, and wait until 11pm to start your homework. Avoid that BS and be responsible with your time management. You need a proper amount of sleep to recover Plus don’t get injured because you’ve been chasing tail all week staying up late. “If it hasn’t happened by midnight, it’s not gunna happen”– Ron Warhurst words of wisdom.“KEEP IT SIMPLE, BE BORING”– Alex Gibby. You chose to be an elite athlete. Live like one. Eat, run, sleep, rest, and fit a little bit of swag in when you can.

TIP NUMBER FIVE: IF YOU GET INJURED, DEAL WITH IT APPROPRIATELY

Now I’m not going to guarantee that you will deal with some sort of injury over the next year, but it’s pretty likely that you will encounter some sort of injury whether minor or serious in our sport. Especially if you’re not taking the necessary steps above to prevent them.

-Don’t obsess over it. This can lead to depression. Depression does not help you recover, in fact it sets you back even more.
-Do all you can to make it better, see your trainer and do all the rehab you can.
-Listen to what your coach tells you, when you are injured he or she probably knows whats best for you to be doing in terms of cross training, don’t take training into your own hands.
-It’s not the end of the world. Realize this. Ask any of the best runners in the nation, guarantee they’ve dealt with injuries. They happen, it’s part of our sport, you deal with them properly and get through them.

TIP NUMBER SIX: ALLOW YOURSELF TO HAVE SOME FUN, WHEN APPROPRIATE

Now I’m not telling you to go out and drink. I would never endorse underage drinking on this blog, I’m not stupid. BUT, although I just told you about how serious you need to be about your training, if you’re too serious it won’t do you any good. Maybe in the off-season go check out that block party, let yourself relax and enjoy college. It’s only 4 years, you’re thrown out into the real world when this thing is over.

I’ve been quite lazy with my posting lately y’all. I’m sorry ❤ I was busy driving across the country and turning my swag on in Kansas, Wisconsin, and finally upstate New York. Here, here’s proof:

"1, 2, 3, Not only you and me"- Britney Spears

“1, 2, 3, Not only you and me”- Britney Spears ❤

Anyway, as of yesterday, Cross Country 2011 has officially begun for us Wolverines (Via our first practice yesterday). We have the largest freshman class we’ve had in a long time, by far. That inspired this post (or series of posts over the next few days).

NATTY'S, BE READY 4 IT

I made so many mistakes as a freshman. I’m here to help y’all so you don’t make the same mistakes I did. I’m going to do a series of posts with tips and advice. Here’s the first installment.

College!! You made it!

TIP NUMBER ONE: HIGH SCHOOL NEVER HAPPENED

Who cares how fast you were in high school. You’re in college now. Nobody wants to hear about that time you ‘totally killed that course record at district’.
A.) You run an 8k/10k now (or 4/6k for girls right?), your HS times are irrelevant.
B.) You could have been a national champion in HS but that doesn’t guarantee success in college. Some no-name walk on may just show up and kick your ass.
C.) The Kenyans you’re about to race walked at a faster pace than your PR 5k time when they were 6 year olds making their daily 20 mile trek to school.
D.) DONT, EVER, FOR ANY REASON, wear your high school letter jacket around campus. Earn a college varsity jacket like a real man.

TIP NUMBER TWO: DON’T RACE WORKOUTS TO IMPRESS THE COACH/UPPERCLASSMEN

While being one of the top runners on your team the first week in September may seem super cool, it’s not much fun when you’re injured and not on the travel squad in November when the real racing occurs. I’ve definitely had difficulty not going too hard too soon but I think I’ve finally got the hang of it. Your upperclassmen, if they are any good, will warn you about the dangers of overdoing it in the early season. Listen to them. They’ve been there, done that.

Don't be like this guy (drinking and driving is bad)

TIP NUMBER THREE: DON’T DATE A GIRL ON THE TEAM AS A FRESHMAN

First of all, you probably shouldn’t date anybody as a freshman. Freshmen girls are all about ‘finding themselves’ through a series of 4 lokos and frat guys. You want to get cheated on or dumped? Then date a freshman. But def. don’t date a freshman on your team while you’re a freshman. Anything goes wrong in that relationship, and it will I guarantee you, and voila the whole girls team in your class hates you. Plus, unless you have some ‘special equipment’ you probably don’t want the girls on your team discussing your performances off the track.

If any of y’all wanna ‘holla at me’ though, let me know 😉 Just kidding I’m 20, I do not wish to be with you during your first time drinking. I don’t wanna come visit you in your dorm. I don’t wanna go to meet ‘lax bros’ and go to the ‘chill frat bro house’.

Sorry it’s been a while since my last post. I just completed a 24+ hour drive across the country by myself.

I’d like to thank y’all for being such dedicated followers, in just a little over a month I’ve had over 31,000 views, over 20 subscribers, and my posts have been featured on the front pages of LetsRun, RunnersWorld, Track and Field News, and Flotrack. ❤ y'all.

Before I get into today's post, here what to look for in the coming weeks:
– Interviews with some of the top collegiate runners/teams in the nation as XC gets ready to kick into action. If you'd like a certain question asked send me an email at ornelas@umich.edu and I will listen to suggestions!
– Interviews with some pros (hopefully I can sit down soon with Nick Willis before Worlds)
-A Prefontaine post
-Challenging people to run in public
-Swag

LASTLY: If you have any ideas for interviews/posts send me an email/comment on this blog!

SUMMER RUNNING IN HELL TEXAS

So I just spent the past 2 months and change building my summer base for XC in one of the most miserable places you could possibly choose to be in during the months of June/July.

Oh, it gets down to 104 Tuesday, that'll be a nice day!

I learned a lot about myself/my body this summer while training in that bullshit. In case you live in the Lone Star State, or plan on spending any time there in the summer, here is some advice on how to train during the blistering summer months.

WAKE UP EARLY AS HELL

10 more minutes, please..

Be up at 6/7am, every morning. Trust me, being tired as hell all day is way better than running at 9am. If you’re in the Austin area, head down to the main entrance to Barton Springs and it’s pretty likely you’ll see somebody you know/some elite runners about to start their run. Frequent meeting spot for the UT runners, collegiate runners, cougars, triathletes, and high schoolers.

STOP AT WATER STOPS

Those blue pants that chick has on...facepalm.

Notice the water to the left in that pic. Thats the main water stop at Auditorium Shores. If you are running on a trail that has water stops, FREAKING STOP for some water. Now, don’t spend 10 min. chugging water, get a cup or two and get back on with your run. When I first got back into town I figured “Pfft I never stop during runs in Michigan, thats for p*ssies”. Well several times in my first few weeks back I had to stop mid-run because I ran out of energy/”hit the wall”. Hydrate kids, because when you run out of water your run becomes worthless.

NEVER RUN FROM 12-6pm

NEVER for any reason run from 12pm to 6pm. NEVER. EVER. DONT EFFING DO IT. On my 2nd to last week in town I wanted to hang out with friends at night but I also needed to do a double. I decided to go for a 4mi run at 4:30 in the afternoon. Here’s how that run went:
800m in- “Haha this is funny I’ll be able to tell my friends I went running while it was 105 degrees out and they’ll think I’m a total badass!”
1600m in- “There is sweat pouring out of my eyes. My eyes. What the hell?”
3200m in- “Am I really only halfway done? I’ve lost at least 10 pounds in the past 13 minutes”
4800m in- “I’m dizzy, why can’t I produce saliva anymore? There is a puddle of sweat in my butthole I’m sweating so much.”
5000m in- “I don’t think I’m going to finish this run. I’d rather be raped by a dinosaur than try this again.”
5200m in- “What is the meaning of life? What does it mean to exist? If I die on this street how long before somebody picks me up?”
6000m in- “I’m going to die. It’s official. I’m chaffing so bad there is a drop of blood running down the inside of my leg, I can’t breathe normally, and I’d honestly rather watch a Carlos Mencia standup special then be running in this BS”
4mi (Home)- “Walking into this air conditioned home is more satisfying than winning the lottery.”

NAP, NAP OFTEN.

3-way nap

Being up early every single morning then exhausting yourself in the sun takes quite a toll on you. If you’re a lazy jobless bum like me and have enough time to spend 2-3 hours in the middle of your day napping, do it. You’ll feel better and you’ll recover better too. Just come to terms with the fact that you’re sleeping for a few hours while other kids are out there working. Ha, losers.

EAT AFTER YOU RUN

You need to replenish yourself after a run in 100 degree weather. I suggest the ‘Big Juan’ at ‘Juan in a Million’ in East Austin. Under 4 dollars and you probably won’t even be able to finish it.

EAT run swag

I’m sure there’s more stuff I could fit here but this post is too damn long and I’m tired from yesterdays drive. I’m gunna go nap and listen to “Watch The Throne”.